Rei tried moving his hair directly with mana.
He was just trying to influence the mana flow to move more in his direction, but he couldn't detect any change visually.
"Haaah, whatever."
He'd repeated this experiment since first crawling to the mirror.
Of course, he could test on body hair--no mirror needed!
But the problem was--he had none.
His skin was porcelain-smooth.
'Three possibilities:
1. My mana senses are too weak.
2. Mana types vary, and I'm using the wrong one.
3. Mana can't influence matter at all.
The last one being the least probable... and the worst.'
Of course there is no saying that mana was completely different from his understanding, and none of his theories were correct.
Another month had already passed in Aerthos.
Rei was always busy reading, sleeping, drinking his favorite drink, and of course, experimenting.
The latter didn't bring much result yet, but he didn't give up.
"Reeei, my dear!" Rose's beautiful voice cracked through the quiet room like a lightning.
"Mom?" 'Why is she so excited?'
She was always energetic around Rei, but today it felt much more intense.
"Guess whaaat?" She asked with an almost blinding smile.
"A present?"
"Ugh-, how do you know?" Her expression faltered.
"Lucky guess." Rei smiled innocently.
Somehow, after reincarnation, he started to easily read peoples' emotions.
He was not like this before.
"...My son is too smart. Anyway, come here my baby boy!" She pouted, but still opened her arms to pick him up.
And he happily walked straight in her loving hug.
He did fall a few times, but hey! He is 2 months old! Give him some slack!
-------------------
On the way, already familiar sight welcomed him.
Walls decorated with expensive paintings and gold.
Lavish furniture, each costing more than many noble families.
Servants bowing their heads in reverent silence.
They were living like royalty.
And the scenery outside the window was no less impressive.
Thousand-years-old plants were in the garden, as common as grass.
Mountains, with peaks as high as clouds.
They were living on the outskirts of Empire's capital, Lumina, about 200 kilometers away.
There were many rooms, but mansion itself was not exactly huge for a noble of their status--Rei estimated about 1,500 square meters.
Thankfully, their destination was just around a corner.
When they walked through the door, he saw a girl about 6 years old in a maid attire.
'Hmm, is she my supposed `present`?' His thoughts were interrupted by the girl herself.
"Miss Rose, M-master Rei!" She bowed politely, bringing the hem of her skirt up.
'Cute.'
It was no secret that Rei can already understand others and even speak.
So servants started to address him directly as `master` or `young master`.
"Darling, this is Saya, she will be your personal maid from now on."
'Huh? Personal maid? By my possessive mother? How come?'
Of course even he was not bold enough to ask--after all he is currently a child, and should not understand emotions like `possessiveness` yet.
"Personal maid?" Rei looked at the girl curiously.
His first thought was pretty simple: 'She will grow up a beauty.'
White hair like the cleanest snow, blood-red eyes, and long fangs...
'Wait, fangs?!'
"Mother, is she a vampire?" He asked curiously, his interest fully piqued by the girl.
After all, it's his first time seeing another humanoid species.
His scientific self wanted, no, needed to know if quirks of vampires from Earth were the same here.
"Yes and yes," she puffed out her chest proudly.
But after a second of thinking: "Wait, how do you know abou-"
"I read about them."
"...Oh. Khem, khem, anyway.
Saya, you should already know your responsibilities, right?"
"Y-yes miss Rose." She answered almost instinctively, as she was busy being mesmerized and even a little scared by Rei gaze.
'His eyes are so... majestic... beautiful.' She blushed a little.
Rei's thoughts were a bit different.
'A vampire personal maid.' He licked his lips.
'My life becomes better with each passing day.' Expression of satisfaction adored his face.
It was like world was working in his favor.
-------------------
"Do you burn under a sun?
Can you eat garlic?
Can you enter a home without permission?"
"Y-young master?"
"What about a spike in the heart?
Are you immortals otherwise?
Can you-"
"U-umm, young m-master?" Her voice came out louder, a bit shaken and her eyes become wet.
Rei turned silent, he didn't like pretty girls crying, after all, he was a gentleman, not a monster.
'...I guess it was a bit too much for her.'
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"I-it's nothing..."
A bit of silence enveloped the room.
"...Do you uhh... drink blood?.."
"..."
"..."
"Y-yes." She said a bit shy.
"NO WAY! THAT'S SO COOL!" Rei was really exited.
As far as he understood, vampires were just giant mosquitos.
Think about it, they pierce skin, inject something in victim's blood, and then suck blood with nutrition.
"Umm, thanks?"
Rei still had a lot in his head, but decided to postpone it, not to scare a girl any further.
"Okay, questions for later, I guess. Hope we'll get along!"
'T-there will be more questions?' She almost cried, poor girl.
-------------------
"Young master is scarry, He can almost speak like an adult at just 2 month..."
A common sentence among younger maids.
From his very birth in this world, Rei didn't really try to pretend to be a child, except some rare cases.
He saw it as counter-productive to his future plans, slowing down his development.
There was simply no point, his mother didn't particularly care and was just happy to have him.
"Well, he is an anomaly. Being born as a boy in the Kuroda family."
Older maids were even more shocked, knowing more about the family's roots.
Thought they hid their emotions better, not to anger their matriarch.
Rei's intelligence was not the only abnormal thing about him.
"Head maid, everyone always talks about him being a boy, but what is the big deal about that?"
There was not much information about Kuroda family's history in the outside world, so they can only get it from inside.
Of course topic about their young master got attention of every person in the room, and all heads turned to head maid.
"You might have already noticed, all the servants in Kuroda are females."
Like a ducks all the maids agreed, moving their heads up and down.
"It is said to be a curse, Kuroda family was cursed to never have a male heir, nor can the females be impregnated by the male seed.
So it was decided to not let any man near.
Every child from that moment was from artificial impregnation, and all were females.
I do not have more details about it either, despite working many decades here.
But that curse was not broken for thousands of years."
The room was large, accommodating over 50 maids, all of whom made a loud `whoah` sound.
"The young master not only is extremely intelligent and strong for his age, but also broke the curse, making him the biggest anomaly in family's history." The head maid, Eleonora, continued louder, with sparkling eyes.
Despite being over 60 years old, she looked no more than 21.
With brown hair and green eyes, she was a beauty, just like the rest of the maids.
"He is also extremely handsome..." Another maid said with red face.
Everyone looked at her strangely, despite not being able to disprove the statement, it was still strange thing to say about a 2 month old child.
"W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?"